


Something Eternal

by fandomgeek14



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Awkward Crush, F/M, Illnesses, Rassilon is horrible, Temporary Character Death, The Doctor & The Master (Doctor Who) Friendship, Virus, dying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:01:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22942951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomgeek14/pseuds/fandomgeek14
Summary: Anya Sterling worked for MI6 as an Analyst until she met the Doctor. now, three years later, her past starts catching up with her, but the past that haunts her might not be the one she knew...
Relationships: The Doctor (Doctor Who) & Original Female Character(s), The Master (Dhawan)/Original Female Character(s), Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan & Graham O'Brien & Ryan Sinclair
Comments: 15
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

The Doctor stood watching the scene unfold from the stairs of her TARDIS. the goodbye, the heartbroken yell of the man she once called her best friend, both echoing in her mind, having happened seconds ago, all whilst trying not to break down herself, she'd tried of course, tried so hard to keep her other friend safe, tried to make help her, but she failed. and that broke her two hearts. 

The Master knelt, on the floor of his best enemy's TARDIS, rage, coursing through his veins, as he held the body in his arms. it had been his fault, he did this to her. it was HIS fault! he looked up at the Doctor, his eyes full of anger, and the Doctor saw, not for the first time rage, pure, raw, hot, rage radiating from The Master like fire, as he gently placed the girl on the floor and stood up, not even sparing a glance at the girl he had been so careful with moments before. 

"Fix her" 

"Master, I'm sorry-" 

"no, Doctor! you are NOT getting out of this one! you PROMISED her you would! help her, NOW!" he exploded

"I can't" 

"bring her back!"

The Doctor looked at the girl on the floor, she was helpless, limp, life had been sucked out of her, the Doctor swallowed down the lump in her throat. 

"there's nothing i can do" 

silence. 

"I'm going to tear down this universe until I find him, Doctor" The Master spoke after a while "and you won't be able to stop me" 

The Doctor said nothing, she was going to find whoever did this to her and stop them from doing whatever it was they were planning. she swore on it, and apparently, the Master had the same idea, because the unthinkable had just occurred. 

Anya Sterling was dead.


	2. Chapter 2

Y stood at the analysis office and gulped. It was her first day at the job, at 17 she’d been spotted for MI6 and offered the job a year later after the appropriate training. She’d only gotten the job so young because of her father’s connections, and she wasn’t even sure she wanted it, but she went along anyway, as it was something to do. So here she was, about to step into the office, having been given her codename (funny story actually, how she got it) and she was nervous. She took a deep breath, connected her hand with the door handle and-

Smack! 

“Ouch” 

She looked down to see a man on the floor, just her luck, first human interaction outside of C on the job and it’s a bloody travesty of an impression, and they’re probably going to hate her now. 

“Oh my god, I am so sorry!” 

Y spoke apologising profoundly and quickly 

“No, no, don’t apologise, it was my fault serves me right for standing so close to a door that opens inwards” the man gave her a kind look, chuckling at his mistake. 

“Well, at least let me help you up”

Y offered the man her hand, he took it and she pulled him up, he locked eyes with the her blue ones, if only for a moment before he snapped out of it, going slightly red in the face 

“sorry, didn't mean to stare, I’m guessing by the fact that doors infamy hasn’t reached you, you’re the new recruit” 

“Yes, that’s me” Y said before cursing herself for acting like an idiot and saying that “I mean, I’m Y” she smiled at him 

“Y? That’s quite far down the alphabet, there has to be some kind of story behind that name” 

”Asked too many questions and C stuck to it” 

“Ah that sounds like him, quite similar to how I got my name actually” 

“And that would be?” 

“O” he smiled “I’m O”

“Sounds like C has a sense of humour after all”

”suppose so, wouldn’t expect it from him but apparently he is capable of the human quality that is a sense of humour” 

“are you implying that C isn’t human?” Y chuckled at the joke   
  


“Sorry, you spend all this time as an expert on such things and the joke flies over your head” O shook his head laughing along with her, at his apparent joke, the irony of the situation lost on her, but when looking back on it retrospectivley, the irony would not be lost on her any longer, however right then, in that moment, it she didn't suspect a thing.she paused confused at the wording of his joke, an expert of what? Exactly?

“what such things?” 

“Extraterrestrial things” 

“you’re joking” 

“I’m not” O said giving her a look of- well, she can’t exactly see what it was but it was familiar, as if she'd seen it before “I’m actually just on my lunch break, I could show you around the place, if you want”

Y looked sceptical, she’d only just arrived at MI6, hadn’t even sat down at her desk in the analyst room, and she was being offered to see all this probably confidential stuff by a man she’d only just met, so why would she follow him?

”how do I know you aren’t going to kidnap me?”   
  
“We’re in one of the highest security places in Britain, besides, do I really look like I would kidnap someone?” 

Y answered honestly, she couldn’t see him doing that. But there was something, different about the man, she just couldn’t place it, she didn’t even know it was a good different or a bad different.   
  
“no, but why me?”

”I honestly don’t know” O shrugged before smiling “I want to get to know you, you need friends in a job like this” 

“well, I’m not going to turn down a tour of this massive building who knows when I’ll get another chance” Y smiled taking O’s offer, the man smiled at her warmly,

“come on” he nodded “oh, but could we get a drink on the tour? I’m parched also the canteen food isn’t half bad”   
  


Y dropped her bag at the desk with her name on it, and followed him out with the nod of her head in agreement. She had a feeling of something familiar about him, a familiar air surrounding him, but she supposed it had to be a good something if he’d offered to hang out in some way, immediately upon meeting her, and maybe O and her were going to get along just fine. 

* * *

three years later, the 21 year old Y, now going by her real name Anya Sterling, was sat in a garage watching The Doctor drain the TARDIS. She’d been travelling with the blonde haired woman for about two years now, having left her job at MI6 for it, well, temporarily of course, but how was she supposed to refuse seeing the Universe? That’s not an offer you get every day. but there was one thing she missed, not working at MI6 anymore, O, she glanced down at her phone, looking at her screensaver, it was of her and the other analyst, they'd become fast friends, after that first day and needless to say she had started to develop somewhat of a crush on the geeky, kind, slightly awkward man, and by all accounts from her colleagues, he'd felt the same way, but Anya knew neither were willing to make the first move and besides she had anxiety issues, what if she'd gotten the signals wrong? so their current status was unlikely to change, and on top of that Travelling with the Doctor would more than likely put a strain on theor relationship, that and the fact that she had lied to him.

Anya had claimed she was going to travel for a bit. that was true, but not to the extent O probably thought, she'd mentioned Korea, Japan, all of America, that kind of thing, when he had asked everywhere she was going, if he found out about her flying off in a blue box, he'd have called her crazy, or, maybe not, but she couldn't risk losing her only friend. he'd asked her to stay safe whilst travelling and they'd managed to stay in touch Whatsapping at least once a week. 

“Ah, there's the blockage. Oh, sorry! Group message. Got to concentrate. Just calling to say hi, fam. Where are you? We said an hour. You're late. Very late. All of you.”

She closed her flip phone, that she was apparently on, looking up as a car pulled up and door opened, The three sets of black cars and black-suited men get out, Men In Black style. Anya hopped down from the overturned crate she was sat on, tucked a stray strand of her brown hair behind her right ear, and joined the Doctor's side to see what was going on. 

“Hi, fellas. Rocking the ominous look.” The Doctor spoke cheerfully 

One of the agents approached the Doctor and Anya immediately recognised the style of the manor of the situation as the speciality one of the British special agencies, MI6 did that with her on a number of occasions on her days off even though she wasn’t part of the field work team, and was only an analyst, she supposed at the time it was because she was one of the best analysts they had. but it couldn’t be MI6 could it? why would they need the Doctor? O had told her all about these other organisations that dealt with extraterrestrial issues, if it even was that! well, actually she knew of UNIT beforehand, her older half brother worked for them, and everyone knew about them anyway, but Torchwood, now only a select few knew about them. or rather were _supposed_ to be secret, but lets just say that driving round in cars labelled with your secret sector's name on it, and chasing down aliens is bound to turn a few heads. 

“We need you to come with us.”

“Can I finish up first? I'm just draining the water slides. And the boating lakes. And the rainforest floor. Plus, I'm waiting for my mates.”

“Your friends are inside the car.”

Anya looked over at the car, and if on cue from a comedy film, Graham stuck his head out of the rear window of the middle car, and yelled at them

“Worst Uber ever!”

The man talking to the Doctor looked back at the pair of them, 

“Look, it's in all your best interests that you come with us.”

The Doctor nodded and letting Anya know, with a glance they strolled to the car.

* * *

A few hours (and one assassination attempt by a Sat-Nav) later and Anya found herself stood in this all so familiar office of her superior, C, about to be given a mission about DNA rewriting creatures and now she had no problem to see why C had to call the Doctor in. C was, a man with spy espionage written in his DNA, probably, or well for as long as she’d known him at least, she’d known him for years since of course, he worked with her father in the Early 2000s on a mission, back when her dad was secret service, and had watched her grow up, well whenever he had the time to visit her dad after his retirement, of course. He knew fully well of Anya’s mental health problems and her chronic headaches, which, was why when he asked her of she wanted to work for MI6 once she had finished school, she’d be working in Analysis. Not much had changed in the two years since she last reported there, it was still as if it had been ripped out of a James Bond film, complete with Q division priducts that Graham and Ryan were now being shown by C.

“Anaesthetic darts, laser shoe gun, infrared ID duplicator, calendar hacker, lock-breakers, rocket-launcher cufflinks, retinal ID decoder and tongue-immobiliser chewing gum. How much more do you want?”

“ Yeah, it's great. Keep 'em coming, C.” Ryan smiled

“Yeah, bring on the bling.” Graham said

“They are not toys.” C spoke adamantly to the two men

“Yeah. They're not toys, Graham.”

“No, they're not, Ryan, and if you say otherwise, I will shoot you with my laser shoe.”

bringing the focus back to the task at hand, C closed the cases and crossed the room to his desk, 

“All of the assassinated agents were investigating leads relating to this man.” C picked up a file and handed it to Yaz who read it, carefully

“Daniel Barton. Born in Bromsgrove. Now lives just north of San Francisco. Oh, he's the founder of VOR.”

“as in?” Anya asked

“The search engine.” Ryan clarified

“Web apps, social, global mapping, advertising, scientific and medical research, robotics, data polling, human analytics...”

“Right now, VOR is more powerful than most nations. Daniel Barton is the man who built it all up from the ground.” C spoke sitting down in his chair

“We're going to need your best man on this. What do you call him? Horizon-watcher?” the Doctor asked

“Oh.”

“Exactly.”

Anya frowned in confusion O? The Doctor knew O? why didn’t he mention this? Well, I suppose he couldn’t entirely trust her- or what she was actually doing, he probably thought she had been promoted to field agent and first rule of espionage and all that, she looked over at her Boss, and C had a rather embarrassed look on his face, and Anya had this sudden realisation, O, hadn’t mentioned MI6 for months, in any of their messages, which probably meant that-

“Ah, well, he er... He left. I... sacked him.”

“What?” Anya couldn’t believe her ears, her best friend? Gone? Nevermind that- he was the one guy who could help and they just let him go? oh that was a mistake they were surely regretting now, judging by the look on C’s face.

“The only person with an open mind about all this and you let him go?” the Doctor asked

“MI6 has never countenanced the possibility of extraterrestrial life.”

“Well, you should talk to your mates at GCHQ.”

“The country has other organisations that deal with all that. UNIT. Even Torchwood.”

“They're all gone. Oh, C! You took your eye off the horizon just as things were coming over it. Don't worry. I'll call him.”

_What?_

“You can't. He's off-grid. We can't find him anywhere. Believe me, we've tried.”

“Shh. I'm WhatsApping.”

WHAT? they’ve got each other on Whatsapp??? Bloody hell, today was just a lot of surprises. But honestly, what could she have expected from a day starting with being shot at by a SatNav of all things!

“Hi. It's me. I'm at MI6 with C. Crisis. Big crisis. Serious crisis. Big, serious crisis. And C says you were right and he's sorry for being an idiot.”

“I did not use those words!”

“Send us your location. Kisses.” She hung up on O, turning to her companions “It's quite French, that, isn't it? Kisses?”

_ping_

“ Ah! See?”

“Yes?” C asked as the Doctor held up her phone

“It's a fish.” Graham pointed out

“I know!” the Doctor exclaimed excitedly

Steganography. Of course he’d use that, can’t go risking anyone knowing his location now could he? Clever. Anya smirked at that.

“Can we please focus? Daniel Barton isn't just a powerful businessman. He was also one of our agents when he first went to work in the US. Then he withdrew cooperation. It's possible he became a double agent. Or even a triple.”

“Who for?” Yaz asked

“Well-”

Bang, glass shattered behind C, who clutched the side of his neck.

“Oh.”

C’s head bashed against his desk, as his dead body slumped forwards, and Anya felt like screaming at the fact her boss had just been gunned down in front of her- she couldn’t believe it- out of all the things-

“Down!” the Doctor yelled and Anya did immediately as the Doctor said, she had to focus! No time for grieving, even if he was her father’s long-time friend who got her the job in the first place which had then lead her to meeting The Doctor and having the best two years of her life!

“Go! Get to the Tardis!” The Doctor ordered and the four of them hurried into the TARDIS, the Doctor shutting the door behind her, and rushing to the console.

“We've got to get out of here.”

“We've still got the gadgets.” Graham pointed out

“We just saw the head of MI6 get assassinated.”

“C…” Anya said hiding the sadness in her voice or trying to anyway, she couldn't let her friends think she was somehow connected to this, and besides there was time for grieving later. 

“Yeah, by the same sort of bolts that came through that Sat-Nav.” Yas pointed out

“Where's that picture? I need to set the coordinates. Ooo, I've got it.”

The Doctor took her flip phone out and attatched it to the console bringing up the photo of the fish. 

“So, wrong place, wrong time, twice in one day. That's got to make us targets. And why do you keep looking at pictures of a fish?” Graham asked

The brown haired girl opened her mouth to reply “it’s-“

“-Stenography. There's another image hidden within the pixels of that photo. It's basic spycraft in your time. Easy way to smuggle out information because there's no pattern to look for. No two stegs are the same.”

“So one's hidden inside the other?”

 _Exactly_ Anya thought to herself before she turned around and froze, the TARDIS door was going all… wibbly? Was that the word? Graham had noticed this new event too and was pointing towards it gtrying to get the Doctor's attention, but she was to focused on the Stenography to notice.

“Doc...”

“Exactly. Luckily, I can read pixels. I took a correspondence class.”

“Doc...”

“Ooo, the outback. Gone full hermit.”

 _Australia? Really? I never took O to be a hermit, eh well, guess that's better than anything!_ Anya thought before focusing back on the fact that something was getting through the TARDIS door!

“Doctor, something's trying to get in!” Yaz pointed out to her louder than Graham did pointing at the alien that was halfway through the door

“Oh, no, you don't!”

the TARDIS dematerialised, and the alien is sucked away. Taking out her sonic, the Doctor races back and scans the door.

“I didn't know things could get into the Tardis like that.

“Neither did I.”

“But you got rid of it.”

“Yeah, but what was it?”

“well, whatever it was, it killed C”

“At a guess, the same thing that attacked all those spies. And possibly us. What? No readings? The sonic can usually read everything. All right, park that. Live attacks. They're after us, but we need intel. Split resources. Graham, Anya, me and you two are off to Australia to see my old mate from MI6. I say old mate. I've met him once, but he seemed very nice. We text, though. Does that count?”

“If you say so.”

 _O texts the Doctor? oh boy that man has a lot of explaining to do!_ But then, she guessed so did she, because, once O see’s her come out of the TARDIS the gig will be up.

“Yaz, Ryan, how do you feel about undercover work?”

“Definitely!”

“I don't know.”

“Daniel Barton. He's our best lead. Well, he's our only lead. We'll get you a cover story. Hack his diary, get in there, check him out. Infiltrate VOR. Have a nose around their systems.”

“Be spies, basically.”

“What, with absolutely no training?” Graham asked

“We got the gadgets.”

“Well, yeah. All the gear, but no idea.”

“Oh, thanks a lot.” Ryan said sarcastically

“No, no, no, I think you'll be great. I have total confidence, you know? Just, er... just be careful, though.” He turned to the Doctor “It's safe for them, though, right?”

“Yeah. Eighty percent sure. Seventy five. Forty percent absolute minimum. Take this. Bio-scanner disguised as a digital recorder. I want to know everything about Daniel Barton. Like Graham said, be careful. Stay in touch. And remember. Rule one of espionage? Trust no one.”


	3. Chapter 3

The Tardis landed with a thud, like usual. The Doctor smiled at Graham and Anya, the latter smiling back slightly at the Doctor whilst the former still looked a little confused and concerned, most likely about Ryan.

“come on you two I’m sure Ryan and Yaz will be fine, let’s go”

the Doctor left the TARDIS followed by Graham, Anya stood, her feet unable to move for a few seconds breathing slightly quicker than usual, and she winced, as a dull pain started in her head, causing graham to look back concerned.

“you alright there, Anya?”

“oh yeah, I can just feel a headache coming on, I just need a moment”

“I’ll let the Doc know, join us when you’re ready”

“see you guys out there” she waved as Graham left the TARDIS,

Oh hell, she was about see O for the first time in two years, what if he was angry at her for not telling him? what if she lost a friend because of this? She shouldn’t be doubting O, there was only a slim chance that outcome would happen, as he would more likely be more fascinated more than anything about her adventures and the aliens they’d encountered, but still, she knew she had to face the inevitable. She took a deep breath trying to ignore the throbbing of her head and collecting herself, straightening her denim jacket, she took a deep breath and walked out of the TARDIS to join her friends, old and new (ish). 

The Doctor was in the middle of introductions when she joined them, apparently O had been too caught up in the Doctor and Graham’s presence to notice her. 

“-This is my friend, Graham.”

“O.”

“Sorry, you're...?”

“O.”

Anya looked at Graham’s expression and mentally giggled, oh this could go on a while…

“O?”

“O.”

“Oh.”

“It was a joke by the others at MI6. Whenever I came into the room to meet C, he'd go, Oh, God!”

“Oh.”

“It sort of stuck, and now I've owned it.”

“and this my other friend, Anya” The Doctor finally came to introduce Anya “or as you might know her-”

“Y?”

O finally noticed the girl, and his face changed to one of surprise, and he had a right to be, he was honestly not expecting that. Anya looked down at her red converse shoes, shifting slightly in nervousness

“O”

“so when you said you were going travelling you didn’t mean the world or that you were being transferred to field work?”

“…more the entirety of Time and Space”

Anya, looked up at him, cautiously, thinking him to be twisted with anger, or at least cross at her, but like she kept telling herself her wouldn’t be angry at her, he’s not that kind of person, so why was she expecting him to be? That wasn’t right, why could she see her friend being angry so easily? It was probably just her anxiety, and she was right, her fears were put to rest when he had his usual kind expression towards her on. 

“I missed you” he smiled at her

“I missed you too”

Anya felt a smile spreading on her face as O turned to the Doctor and introduced the two people who were behind him.

“This is Seesay and Browning. Just arrived. Australian Secret Service.”

“We'll be here for the whole of your visit. We're under orders to keep all of you safe.” Seesay said

“Safe from what?” Graham asked

“Not sure.” Browning answered

“You're going to be a right lot of help, then, aren't you? Can I take a nose around your gaff? I love the outback.”

O took Anya’s hand as he turned to the house behind him, squeezing it reassuringly, and pulled her (well without actually pulling her) towards the house behind the Doctor and Graham as The Doctor continued speaking.

“I once lived in the outback for a hundred and twenty three years. I saw some great rocks.”

and leaning over to her ear he whispered, to her

"come on, you're going to love this"

* * *

“Cosy!” The Doctor said scanning around the place, with her sonic, Anya looked around the housestead, it was impressive, well, a bit messy but overall pretty impressive by all accounts, the amount of stuff O had gathered.

“You mean messy.” O said letting go of Anya’s hand and stepping forwards

“You're right, I do. Didn't realise you were this much of a hoarder.”

Oh, that was a problem even back when he was at MI6, Anya wanted to say but she felt like that would be overstepping it, considering, she'd just reunited with him and had been invited into hos home.

“ What is all this stuff?” Graham asked picking up a magazine or something of like it and flicking through it, which Anya recognised as O’s Fortean Times, she’d been shown on her first day at MI6.

“The full MI6 record of the unexplained, as compiled by me. Human disappearances, sightings of unidentified objects, mysterious beings, possible alien incursions going back centuries. And a complete set of Fortean Times in mint condition. Look at all the evidence I gathered. And they just mocked me.”

“I didn’t” Anya tells him a reassuring smile on her face “and I won’t ever mock you”

“No one's mocking you now” The Doctor reaffirmed her companion’s statement.

“I heard C was shot.” O changed the subject

“We were there. Nearly got us an' all.”

The ex-MI6 analysist glanced at Anya, a mix of sympathy and relief was visible in his eyes for a brief second, clearly he was relieved that Anya wasn’t hurt but sympathy for the fact that she had to witness their boss’ death, knowing that she was close with C he couldn’t image what she was going through, or was going to go through when she was allowed to grieve. 

“Does this connect to the attacks on agents? I have been monitoring the chatter, Doctor. Is it aliens? Aliens attacking spies all over the world?”

“And rewriting their DNA.” The Doctor told him

“That's terrifying. But wow! Why would they do that?”

“I don't know. They almost infiltrated my Tardis as we were taking off. I thought you might have something in your research banks that might give us some clues.”

Graham drew back a curtain in the room to reveal banks of screens, as if it was some kind of watch system. A very impressive system, in fact, being MI6 has it’s perks, such as having specialist equipment.

“Wow! This is some set-up. Paranoid, are we?”

“No. I prefer cautious. I like to know if anything's watching me. And if you're already in the middle of all of this, how do you know they won't follow you here? How do you know you haven't become targets too?”

The three other people, turned to the ex-agent, Oh God, O was right, they could have become targets without even realising it, and whatever they are fighting has already proven itself dangerous, so dangerous that it could control Sat-Navs of special agents, rewrite people’s DNA and take down the head of MI6, with ease. Who’s to say that they hadn’t become targets? And that terrified Anya to no end. this was becoming a race, a game, even, of survival, and they’d just potentially dragged O into the mix and with no current way of fighting them off, they could easily be wiped out or rewritten at any second, if these creatures or aliens decided to attack.

This could go horribly, horribly wrong. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't read this unless you've seen the finale of series 12:  
> wow, that series 12 finale (Timeless Child) am i right? i hated it. well i didn't exactly hate it, I just hated the entire reveal about The Doctor and some of the implications of what that means for the history of the show, i hated aspects of it (such as the second half of the episode) and it made me question the future of the show in a bad way, which shouldn't happen, I think most of my disappointment was because i was so hyped for the finale and it disappointed me with the reveal to be honest (just to clarify, i don;t have a problem with the Doctor having more lives and previous lives, it's just i didn't like the fact she was The Timeless Child and therefore the origin of Time-Lord DNA and the reason for regeneration, i'd have preferred it if it was the Master or just another new random time lord) that fact i actually made me go out with my equally angry Uni's Doctor Who society and I got tipsy because of the show, so i'm currently hungover writing this chapter so apologises if it is a bit short, i'll try and update when i can, but I've also got assessments so it might be a bit slow at some point. if you don;t have an update from me for a while at any point it don;t worry, it doesn't mean I've abandoned this fic, i'm not dropping it for Toffee, i'm too invested in it to stop!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so I know I said i didn't like the Timeless Children, but actually upon further rewatch, i realised it's not actually that badder episode, it's ceratinly not the worst finale, and I did like the concept of the timeless child, i just felt they wasted an opportunity with making it being the Doctor because what would have been a cooler, better and more frankly terifying oppotunity with making THE MASTER the Timeless Child. yes i know he has run out of regenerations before whiich is why he has had to steal bodies in the past but consider the repercussions if it was him, The Master being the founder of Time-Lord society, a little bit of him inside every Time Lord, it would also give him a better reason to blow uop Gallifrey when he finds out that not only did the Time Lords place drumming in his head as a child, but wiped his memory of his true origins and the abuse he went through (experimenting on your adopted child? great parenting skills!). also it would give us another dynamic between him and The Doctor. The Doctor, being horrified that a part of her best enemy lives inside her. also, Sacha Dhawan is amazing and he would have pulled it off completely. it would just have been a nice change from the standard 'you are this thing, Doctor' that we've seen so many times and wouldn't render both Day of The Doctor (my favourite episode)'s saving Gallifrey scene and the regeneration reset in Time of The Doctor pointless (still bitter about that considering both of those are Matt Smith stories and 11 is my favourite Doctor).  
> Anyway hope you enjoy chapter 4!

**Years ago, the Planet Gallifrey, the Constellation of Kasterborous, 10-0-11-00:02:**

_Rassilon was having a nightmare, a terrible one, or rather, terrible in his view._

_one of his 'children', had disappeared, gone to explore the outer worlds like the Shobogan traveller Tecteun, the first Gallifreyan to reach out past their sky had done all those years ago. In the dream, she'd arrived on the planet of Karn, home the sisterhood of Karn, looking for answers from the remnants of Pythia, the very same faction of leaders Rassilon had fought against, in the founding days of Gallifrey society, or rather what he had rewritten to be the foundation of the Timelords._

_His eldest daughter, Kahala or better known as the Architect, was asking Ohila, the high priestess of the Karn, about the foundations of Rassilon's deal of regeneration and why, the species were created in looms._

_the answer was one he did not want to hear, for Ohila had given her the truth, or implied it with her words that, they were not responsible for regeneration, that the time lords were hiding something, and Kahala had figured out the truth._

_Kahala wanted the ability to have physical children, bearing them for an experiment she wished to conduct. the effects of mixed DNA._

_Ohila granted it, after she had made it clear that once she drank the drink that would allow this to happen, there would be no going back, and the task ahead would not be easy._

_Rassilon woke up after that. he could not allow that to happen, what his child was doing, was an act of defiance to his rule, the lie the Timelords had told, could be exposed, people would ask questions._

_Kahala would be punished._

_he'd make sure of that._

* * *

**_beep beep_ **

“What just happened?” Graham questioned

“Two movement sensors tripped” O spoke leading over at the computers as a blip on the screen did indeed, prove what he had just seen on the screen. Anya stepped forwards to have a look over his shoulder, she was feeling anxious about what was indicated on the screen, the Doctor didn’t get any readings on the TARDIS and they still have no idea what these creatures are and now they’re playing with them, who knows what could happen, if they had been followed.

“What have you brought here, Doctor?” O asked the TimeLord

“I don't know. Let's take a look outside.”

The Doctor turned and started to head out of the door, as O followed suit, Graham however stood by the computers, called after them, 

“Looking outside was actually quite low on my list. But when does she ever listen to me?”

Anya chuckled “come on Graham, we’re likely no safer inside, oh, wrong thing to say sorry”

And the pair followed the Doctor outside, joining them just as a dingo howled in the distance.

“Please, all of you, back inside!” Seesay spoke sternly and with urgency

Anya moved to stand by O, feeling the need to be closer to him, but she couldn’t figure out whether it was because she needed comforting or whether she just wanted more time with her closest earth friend. The Doctor waved her sonic around scanning the outback outside, for any activity and glancing at it with some seriousness and confusion.

“No readings.”

“You didn't get any readings off that thing in the Tardis either.” Graham commented

“Exactly. There's something. It's like I can sense them.”

“I know what you mean.”

So could Anya, honestly, it was making the hair on her skin rise up, goosebumps appearing on her skin despite the warmness of the night. It was as if something was staring right at her, but she couldn’t see it.

“They're out there, hiding. Tripping the sensors to let us know that they're here. It's like they're watching us.”

“Like animals stalking their prey.” Anya joined the Doctor and Graham in looking back at O for making them feel worse than they already were, upon seeing his friend’s look Other man quickly apologised “Sorry, that wasn't helpful.”

“From what I understand, we were sent here cos you're one of the few people that can stop the attacks on our colleagues. So please, go inside, figure it out, and let us do the job we came for.”

The Doctor looked reluctant until Graham spoke,

“Doc, come on.”

The four of them walked back into the house, to safety, to the job they were supposed to be doing, monitoring the screen, watching the creatures and trying to find out what they were dealing with, watching what was going on outside.

Until a gunshot rang out.

“Browning!”

The Doctor ran outside and the team immediately followed her outside, to try to help the two secret service members, but they were too late, the creatures had leapt upon Seesay and Browning, a bright blinding light surrounding them

“Get away from them!”

The creatures stopped before disappearing and reappearing closer to the group, like some kind of glowing weeping Angel that didn’t stopped when you blinked. Anya could feel her heart pounding in her chest, like crazy, O felt his hand gripping hers as if he could sense her anxiety and panic, she really did not like not knowing, it only made her anxiety worse.

“We can't fight them out here, Doctor. Strategic retreat.” O said in a low voice to the Doctor who was standing shocked at the loss of Seesay and Browning.

“Fine.”

Anya was pulled back inside by O, followed by The Doctor, who shut the door behind them, the alarms on the security system were still blaring as O let go of her hand and moved to examine at the computer screens once more. 

“No signals off any of them. They've just obliterated those bodies. What can they be?” The Doctor told the trio

“Looks like they're moving.” Graham pointed out as he and Anya turned and joined O to have a look at the screen “They're surrounding the building, look.”

O started typing on the keyboard in front of him “That's what we want.”

“Do we?” The Doctor asked

“Yeah. Just a little closer.”

Screen in front of them lit up, with the words Fence Activated flashing on the screen, The glowing figures continued to approach, she didn’t have any idea what O had up his sleeve but Anya secretly hoped to God or whatever higher power there was that he was going to get it right, just as the glowing creatures stepped forwards once more O hit a enter and a honeycomb barrier lit up before their eyes on screen and zapping the creatures until they disappeared, Anya felt herself let go of a breath she didn’t even know she was holding.

“what did you do?” she questioned looking at her old friend

“Did you kill 'em?” Graham added

“More like they retreated.” The Doctor corrected

“How did you know that would work?” the older man asked

“I didn't. Gambled.” O spoke nonchalantly

“so you could have gotten us killed?” Anya almost exclaimed, she hadn’t taken O to be a gambling person, but apparently, things had changed since he got kicked out of MI6.

“but I didn’t”

“Some kit you've got here.” The Doctor pointed out

“I've had a few years to rig it out. Just in case.”

“No, no, look. There's one still outside." Graham pointed at the screen, just as it walked up to the door, Anya’s heart stopped, panic was beginning to rise again, O glanced over at her acknowledging this before looking back at the Doctor

“Plan B. I've got a plan B. It's in the blueprints, Doctor. Just under the folder. I rigged it in case anything got past the first line of defence.”

The Doctor turned and rummaged on the desk, getting the blueprints of whatever O had in store for this creature, Anya wasn’t really focusing though, she was trying to control her breathing, she swore that no alien she had encountered with The Doctor had made her anxiety play up this hard before, not even that Dalek on last New Years Day had managed that! well, she was trying to control it until Graham helpfully pointed out

“It's coming through the wall! How can it do that?

“Well, physical boundaries don't stop it, but it's still not used to this planet, or maybe even this reality.” The Doctor explained as O turned around to face what the other three were looking at. The being fully inside now, started glowing white again, and walking towards them, Anya started hyperventilating harder, frozen in place as the Doctor and Graham looked scared, if only for a moment before The TimeLord looked at the blueprints to her side and asked O

“Spring-loaded?”

“Yep.”

“What are you talking about?”

The Doctor aimed her sonic at the ceiling causing a containment tank drops down over the being, capturing it in it’s place

“Oh, you could have warned me about that!” Graham exclaimed

“Re-route the charge. We've got to keep it in there. A bit quicker!”

“Yes! Doing my best.” O said having turned back to rewiring the power to keep the creature inside the box

“That thing can't hold it.”

“Is he just here for the running commentary?”

O hit enter on his keyboard, Energy re-routed. The being inside the tank is belted with energy from all sides.

“It worked! It actually... it actually worked.” He smiled before looking concerned at the agent next to him, and Anya felt O’s hands wrap gently her arms forcing her to turn and look at him “are you alright?”

She nodded in reply “yeah, I-I think so, my head’s starting to hurt again though”

 _Panic attack headache._ She thought _just what I need_.

“breathe… deep breaths, you’re safe” O said “that thing isn’t going to hurt you”

The Doctor stepped forwards cautiously

“Who are you? What are you doing to the people on this planet? Why are you changing their DNA? And why spies? Why are you only attacking spies? What are you, exactly, except for reluctant to talk?”

The creature refused to speak.

“I'm thinking one more blast.” O said not quite letting go of Anya but ready enough to turn back and give it one if needs be.

“How many are you, in your race or species or whatever you are? Where are you from?” The Doctor continued and this time, the creature responded

“Far beyond.” It replied

“So you can communicate, then. Beyond where?”

“Your understanding.” It made a sound that sounded like- laughter?

“I think it's laughing at you, Doc.” Graham pointed out

“Yes, I got that. Is this your native form, wherever it is you're from? Is this what you look like at home?”

“We take this form to mock you. Your shape amuses us.”

“Very funny.”

“We are stable now. We are ready.”

“What does that mean, stable? Ready for what?”

“To take this.”

“To take this what? Hut? Country? Planet?”

“Universe.”

_Oh so just another standard day in the life of a companion to a time travelling alien then._

Anya glanced at O who looked worried but she managed to give him a reassuring look despite her own severe anxiety that was going on inside her, that was increasing with each moment as the alien started to glow in the box

“Interesting. That glow's increasing. Life getting more intense?” The Doctor spoke

“It's fighting back.” O guessed, which was more of a statement than a guess but good shot at one Anya supposed

“Or something going on.” The Doctor suggested

O turned back to the systems as Anya watched the glow get more and more intense, panic inside her was rising to an extreme level, despite O’s reassurance, she was convinced at this point she was going to die, she couldn’t breath from the panic, like she’d forgotten how to. Her brain was also throbbing but it was a dull throb more than a sharp one so that didn’t matter as much, what was happening? Why was she panicking this much? What were those things exactly?

“This isn't good, Doctor. It's trying to overload my systems.” O said before he recoiled his hand as he received an electric shock. “ It's like it's taken a suicide pill.”

But suddenly the light flashed away and instead of the light creature standing there, in it’s place was Yaz, looking terrified about something.

“Yaz. Turn the power off in there.” The Doctor said to O

“It's already blown out.”

“Yaz! How are you even here?”

Just then, The Doctor's phone rings, it’s Ryan, and from his tone he looked panicked on the other end of the line

“Doctor, you've got to help! I've lost Yaz!

The Doctor looked at Yaz before she spoke into the phone, what had happened to Yaz? Anya looked at O who looked equally confused as everyone else in the room, he clearly didn’t have any answers to it.

“Yaz? I've got her. We're coming for you now”

 _Whatever these things were, they were enough to terrify two of the Doctor’s companions._ Anya could almost hear O’s thoughts as he gave her a focused look as if he was think what they were all thinking

_this is going to be fun._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh yeah, Anya has a generalised anxiety disorder and doesn't like not knowing facts of the situation (she's on the Autistic spectrum as well but would be classed as 'high functioning'). and also suffers from previously mentioned awful headaches, usually she's okay but unfortunately, the tension in the room and the potential fact that she could lose one of her closest friends on Earth in this situation put her into a full blown panic attack.  
> next chapter will feature a heart to heart between O and Anya, which may or may not hint at his charade (well we all know who he is but obviously the characters don't at this point) and where the story may be going. you might even catch onto what i have planned for Anya before I even reveal it... hopefully not, but if you do, don't worry, it doesn't really matter in the long run.  
> Also i might do a few time skips in the future (I don't fancy writing the entirety of series 12) so just a heads up on that!  
> hope you enjoyed chapter 4, chapter 5 will probably be out sometime next week at the latest!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, so you all know that i said this chapter probably would;t be out before next week at the latest? yeah, i had some extra time so i finished it and decided to upload it. but the next one probably won't be until the next week.I'm going to be without a laptop for a few days and university is starting to get into exam weeks, I'm a drama student (and that's all thanks to Doctor Who pretty much as it was the show that made me want to become an companion to the Doctor, therefore i needed to become an actress and to do that and eventually be on the show which is my dream, but at this point as i am older i don;t care what part i play as long as i'm in an episode of Doctor Who but i digress) so there aren't really any written assessments but i have presentations and scripts I need to learn. so you know, uni takes priority, so don't worry if i just randomly don't upload one day, i also don't want to rush this fic . also i'm in a student film that is very Doctor Who esq and I'm playing the main character in it so I'm going to be preoccupied with that and then I'm potentially doing a fan film with the Doctor Who society i'm part of in May and I've been asked to play either an incarnation Doctor or an incarnation of the Doctor who later is revealed to be really the Master (meaning I'm potentially getting my own Spyfall part 1 style Master reveal) and i'm going to be have a lot of fun doing it. so i'm going to need some time to develop my character for that, so you know busy time for me! so don't worry if i don't post at some point, I'll be definitely back, if that happens!  
> sorry for my rambling hope you enjoy chapter 5!

Not twenty minutes after the Doctor had gone to get Ryan, Anya was sat out on the porch under the stars, the breeze blowing her face lightly, holding a once full glass of water in her hand, that still shook slightly from her panic. Why had she panicked? It wasn’t worse than anything they’d ever fought before, in fact she’d probably fought worse, so why now? Why did she panic with them? Anya massaged her temples, they were burning a little, nothing too bad, but certainly one of the more tense headaches she could receive. This heat wasn’t helping either, bloody Australia, her pasty English body wasn’t built for this type of weather! She was honestly quite glad O had fans on in his house otherwise she’d probably have died from heatstroke.

The decking squeaked as someone else arrived on the decking, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“just thought I’d check in case those creatures had came back and got you too” O’s voice rang out as he stood on the deck. Anya only shuddered at the thought of that happening “right, sorry, bad timing”

The girl hummed in agreement as she just stared into the darkness of the outback, struggling a little from the throbbing in her head out of the corner of her eye she saw that O had joined her, but instead of looking at the outback, Anya was surprised to find his gaze upon her. it was a kind one, the one he’d given her so many times before.

“you should go back inside” Anya pointed out

“so should you” he retorted

“I’ve dealt with aliens before”

“so have I, once”

“I don’t want you to get hurt if those things come back”

“I don’t want you getting hurt either Anya”

“my head hurts, I needed some air, go inside and help the Doctor” Anya said not even sparing him a glance, O, turned his head to where she was looking

“those headaches- you’re just not going to do anything about them?” he asked casually

“I’ve had them from ever since I was little, and nothing has worked to stop them-and it never stops”

“I know the feeling”

“what?”

O changed the subject quickly, obviously not wanting to delve into details. He sighed leasing slightly back on the deck.

“it’s been a while since we’ve last talked properly” he smiled “how’s home life been?”

“same old, same old, Andrew’s been transferred to UNIT central control in Geneva now that the UK branch is on suspension, Jane had her eighth birthday last week he sent me a pic of her at lake Geneva, she’s big into Frankenstein, at the moment, dad’s retirement is proving him well, he has a lot more time on his hands now, and Kathy, she’s still, you know, a money laundering, gold-digging cow” Anya told him “oh, I’m going to have to tell dad about C. it’ll break his heart”

“about that, how are you dealing with it?”

“I’m fine”

Becoming less relaxed O sat up straight and looked back at her, and let out an exasperated sigh.

“you know, acting like you’re fine all the time and hiding your feelings towards something is bad, it’s easier to let it all out”

“I’m not sure that’s possible? When you’re travelling with the Doctor, maybe in the TARDIS I can but not on adventures, I mean what if it causes me to I don’t know destroy a planet or something?”

O almost laughed. _Almost_.

“I don’t think it’d go that far”

“it is entirely possible”

That’s when O turned more serious in his look, and Anya noticed a sadness in his eyes she’d never seen before.

“when I was a child, I had a friend, well I had multiple friends actually, nine friends, well used to be ten until the accident. Anyway call it a little gang of you will, we called ourselves the Deca” he spoke

“the what?” Anya asked

“doesn’t matter really all you need to know is this”

“well, I had one friend in particular who I was close with, they were the only one who didn’t always shut me out, we’d always run in the fields surrounding my father’s estate, and run round the streets, even skive school together. Normal children stuff”

“where’s this going?” Anya said “because I don’t think my head could handle a morality story right now”

“no, no it’s not- just listen”

Anya nodded

“they were the only one who didn’t see me as weird or mad. Lets just say I didn’t have the best childhood, probably why I was so fascinated in the extra-terrestrial, But eventually, long after we had grown up. I found out something that changed my life, that friend wasn’t the friend I thought they were, and I grew angry and it felt good and I- well, lets say I did some bad things that I am not proud of, and I was, outcast from my family, I joined MI6 after being you know scouted, met you and now my life is infinitely better”

“what’s that got to do with anything?” Anya asked confused

“well, if I hadn’t had let my anger out and broken away from my family, I wouldn’t have what I have now, a friend- a _best_ friend that I care about more than anything, I- I mean I suppose, I do, I mean I care about you- it’s just- sometimes you need someone to help express your feelings”

Anya considered this for a second before she looked up at the stars. 

“the outback makes the sk,y so clear, I haven’t seen this beautiful a sky in forever- I mean on earth”

“it truly is beautiful, but it’s not the most beautiful thing I’ve seen” O replied absentmindedly

“it’s so much more amazing up close though, you’d be astonished by what I’ve seen, the doctor showed me a star that was dying once and it was the most dazzling thing I have seen”

“Anya?”

“yeah?”

“you do know that I’m not going to let those things or anything else like that hurt you right?”

“you won’t?”

“no”

“okay, but only if you let me do the same” Anya said

O paused, hesitant at her request, but he nodded at her “only if you don’t get killed whilst doing it”

“I’ll try not to” Anya promised 

“feeling better?” he asked

“headache still there, but the panic has gone”

“guess I provided you with a welcome distraction”

“I guess you did. I think I need to check on Yaz, or at least how the Doctor’s doing with her research” Anya smiled at O, before smiling at him “thank you O”

“for what?”

“somehow cheering me up” she smiled

“that worked?”

“you must have a fairly good better nature”

O smiled back at her “maybe I do”

Anya sighed and got up “come on, I expect Graham will be thinking about food right now, and I have no idea what you’ve got in your cupboards”

“Anya?”

“yes O?”

“I suppose since you’ve thanked me, I should be thanking you”

“for what, exactly?”

“nothing, really, or nothing you’d understand anyway”

Anya offered O a hand up, he took it, pulling him up, their joined hands lingered for a second to long before they realised it had, O let go, and signalled for her to go inside first, Anya smiling stepping inside the homestead, she had no idea what he had been thanking her for but she really wasn’t going to question it, if it was something he wasn’t willing or ready to tell her about, then he didn’t have to, but she was genuinely glad she had a friend she could count on to be a shoulder to lean on and she really hoped that wouldn’t change anytime soon.

She had no way of knowing that by this time tomorrow, almost everything good in her life will have flipped upside down. For the worse. 


	6. Chapter 6

The Doctor sonicked the cargo hatch closed and Anya lead O by the hand down the passenger aisle to safety. This was not the way she had expected her day to go, pulling O up into a plane they were now pretty much being stowaways on, after riding on bulletproof motorbikes from a party that was ripped straight out of the James Bond franchise chasing down a man with only 93% human DNA. She immediately let go of O’s hand as she reached the centre of the cabin and leaned against a seat back catching her breath.

“Here” the Doctor said

“What are we actually going to do?” Yaz questioned

“Sit tight. See where he's going.” The Doctor shrugged before looking at O “Never been good at sprinting?”

“I was the last one in every race at school.” He looked sincere but slightly embarrassed about this fact and anya believed him except-

Wait no, that didn’t add up. Anya had seen O’s file, two months after she first started, he’d let her see it, he was a campion sprinter, which was one of the reasons why he qualified for MI6. You don’t forget something like that-

“No, no, no. I read your file. You were a champion sprinter.” The Doctor said catching the rest of her breath, O paused for a second considering this statement, before looking at The Doctor, his expression changing completely.

“Mmm. Got me. Well done.”

The Doctor looked confused

“What's going on, Doc?” Graham asked

“I don't know.”

O walked towards the cockpit, his mannerisms changing completely, he was more- confident? Almost boastful- like he had been waiting for this moment-

“You'd best take a look out of the window.”

Anya could not believe her eyes, as she scrambled to look outside, the homestead was flying through the air, but as soon as she registered what she was seeing she felt a twinge of pain in her head. That had never happened- her headaches were usually a dull pain- not sharp-

“How's your house out there?” Graham asked

“Bit Wicked Witch of the West, but you get the gist. Maybe. Maybe not.” O turned around to face the Doctor

“No.”

“Oh, come on, Doctor, catch up. You can do it. Come on.” O said egging the Doctor on

“Oh!”

“That's...that's my name, and that is why I chose it. Oh, so satisfying. Doctor, I did say look for the spymaster.” O smirked “Or should I say spy... Master? Hi.” He gave a little wave

DOCTOR: You can't be.

MASTER: Oh, I can be. I very much am.

An even sharper pain pierced Anya’s head, the most extreme headache she had ever experienced, it was as if something was fighting through her brain, to the forefront of her mind, she clutched her head struggling not to fall to the floor before suddenly looking up panicked.

“Koschei” Anya gasped as she grasped her head- she had no idea what was going on, or what she had just said but judging by the way The Master snapped his head towards her, gave her a hardened and surprised look mixed with recognition on his face, it must have been something he knew. Something important-

“what, did you just say?” he snapped angrily

Anya stuttered out “I don’t- I don’t know what I just said, my head-“ she sat down in a seat, clutching her head as it hit beyond excruciating, it felt as if her brain was about to explode but before the Master or the Doctor could interrogate her further, Ryan interrupted them.

“So what's going on, then? He's not really O?”

“I'm her best enemy. Call me Master”. The Master smirked and Anya felt her heart snap in two

“Call you what?” Graham asked confused

“Master?”

“Me and her, we go way, way, way back.” The master looked at the Doctor

“I met O.”

“I know.”

“Years ago.”

“I know! He laughed

“But there was an O at MI6. C was talking about him.” Ryan pointed out

“Yeah. A man very close to my heart. Well, in my pocket, actually. Do you want to see him? It's always good to keep a backup of one's work.” He said taking out a matchbox from his pocket “Tissue compression, it's a classic.” He started to push up the box “Oh.” It revealed a tiny figure. A figure of O

“Ambushed him on his way to work for his first day. Shrunk him, took his identity and set myself up in MI6. Surprisingly good staff canteen. Befriended your future companion as well, strung her along” he smiled as Anya felt her heart smash ti pieces even more, he really didn’t care about her? O wasn’t real, her ewhat she assumed was a friendship was build on a lie, she felt as if O had died in that moment. Died before she could tell him how she felt about him, she looked up at the Master heartbroken as he jumped and clapped “I have had a lot of fun.”

“I need to warn Barton!“ the Doctor hurried into the cockpit “He's not here! Where's Barton? What have you done to him?

“Barton!”

“Who's flying the plane?” Graham asked

“Wrong question. Check the seat.” The Master pointed out “Cockpit bomb. Short fuse. I can relate to that!”

_Oh god, he was a manic. O- no, the Master, or whoever he was, was an utter psychopath!_

The sound of the sonic forced Anya to look toward the cockpit, at Doctor trying to sonic the bomb.

“Now, do you really think that I would not make that sonic-proof, Doctor? Come on! Deadlock sealed. And I made sure - no parachutes on board.”

“There must be a way! Ah. Okay, okay.”

“But where's Barton? We saw him coming in.” Yaz asked

“Called away before takeoff. By me! Stick with me, Yaz, cos I control... everything. Even these guys.”

He whistled and clicked his fingers. Two light aliens appeared from out of nowhere.

“Yes!” he grinned

“I can't do it! Get away!”

The Doctor yelled shutting the cockpit door just as the bomb detonated and knocked to the ground, decompressing the cabin, Anya found herself fgrabbing a seat and forcing herself up to face The Master, struggling to remain calm and struggling to ignore the immobilising pain she was experiencing .

“Yah! One last thing. Something you should know in the seconds before you die. Everything that you think you know... is a lie. Got you, finally.” The Master said bending over the Doctor

“O- I mean, Master, help us” is the only thing Anya could think of saying

A pathetic attempt.

The Master took one look at the brown haired companion, mock pity on his face as he took in her broken expression.

“please. For old times’ sake”

a look of smugness replaced his look of pity as shook his head at Anya and vanished. The light creatures rushed the Doctor and she disappeared in a flash as Graham, Yaz, Ryan and Anya hanging onto the seats in front of them the aeroplane began to descend to the ground.

“O- Doctor! Help!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so how does Anya know the Master's nickname from when he was at the academy after havong a headache? she's human! she shouldn't know that stuff right? she's never even been to Gallifrey- she's never even heard of the planet! so how does that work? and how is this reveal going to impact Anya's feelings towards O who is really the Master? and was the Master really stringing Anya along just for fun?  
> you'll have to wait and see!  
> thanks for reading! I'll try and update when I can! but next chapter will be from the Master's Point of View! or part of it anyway, with a Time skip as well! just a heads up!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after the events of Spyfall, Anya goes to stay with her older brother Andrew, his wife, Lyndsey, and his two children Harry and Jane, in Switzerland, near Villa Diodati and lake Geneva, for a short break and to think about what had just happened in peace. except that's not going to happen when the evil Time-Lord she is trying to forget about rocks up and proposes something to her, that she can't exactly refuse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi,  
> sorry it's taken a while to update, University just got even more hectic as I had assignments that changed due to the virus and the practical assignments for my drama (that i was really looking forwards to as I was finally going to play a role i'd been wanting for ages) became written assignments so had like four or five written assignments instead of two i would have had but now I've done half of them and i found i had some time to write the next chapter.  
> the next chapter probably won't be until at least early June as I plan to focus on my remaining assignments before i work on this, then over the summer i'll have lots more time to write. but who knows, if i'm in the mood to procastinate then maybe i'll have it out before then!  
> anyway thanks for reading, hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Gallifrey, a long time ago,**

_Years passed and Kahala had returned to Gallifrey, ready to give birth to her new experiment, a biologically formed Gallifreyan, a mix of two similar species and soon enough, she gave birth to a boy, who she named Yasheil._

_Yasheil knew he was different right from the off, his mother had told him, he couldn't regenerate like all the other highborn Gallifreyan's in the Citadel and that made him different to everyone else, so all the other children would talk about what their first regeneration would be like but he was always excluded. Of course, he hadn't tested his regenerative abilities out but that's what his mother had told him, and he had no reason not to believe her, after all, who wouldn't believe their own mother? And besides, if he couldn't regenerate then he'd be dead for good._

_The other members of his family neglected him for this reason. pretended, he did not exist, he was a disappointment to them, most of all his grandfather. Rassilon saw him as inferior, the black sheep born to his rebellious daughter, who knew all about the truth behind her species and was now potentially planning a rebellion against him and his species, a revolt he had to shut down. but he had to bide his time, he wouldn't be able to explain the disappearance of one of his children or grandchildren for that matter. So, he sat and waited for his chance to strike._

_However the longer Rassilon waited the older the child grew._

_And on his eighth birthday, he was taken and enrolled in the academy. As all children did for initiation, looked into the untempered schism. But as he looked, he saw not just what the time lords wanted him to see, the power ofc the vortex, but he saw everything. The power Gallifrey would hold in the future, the terrible destruction it would cause and in that moment he knew, he had to prevent it._

_His mother, had also felt what he had seen and knew the time to strike was now, she was going to bring down Gallifrey. Bring it to it's knees. The rebellion was beginning to stir and her son would be made the planets new ruler._

_The son, on the other hand, was accepted into the Pyrodonian chapter and began his education and did something he hadn't thought possible._

_He made a friend._

* * *

Anya was at home, well, she was in Switzerland actually, near villa Diodati and lake Geneva, she’d been staying with her brother, Andrew after the event of being turned into a fugitive, sure, she was no longer such as the government had pardoned the four humans after finding nothing wrong, but her stepmother was still not buying it and not letting her father allow her back. Any excuse to kick her step daughter out is as good as any Anya reasoned with herself. But thankfully, her brother was the one person she could confide in about her adventures with The Doctor and he, along with his wife Lyndsey (who also knew about her adventures, as she had worked for Torchwood One in an apprenticeship back when she was eighteen and escaped the battle of canary Wharf- “it was just making teas and coffees really, but I do remember there being a man called the Doctor there” she had explained one day after witnessing Anya step out of the TARDIS “but Yvonne told me to get out because I was pregnant with Harry and now I suppose, she knew what was coming next”) had allowed her into their home without issue. 

Anya had enjoyed spending time with her eight year old niece, Jane telling her about all her adventures with the Doctor (although she presumed them to be fictional) and sometimes her thirteen year old nephew, Harry would join them but he didn’t really believe in Aliens, however, she wasn’t stopping for long, just a few days, she'd told Andrew, although Andrew had told her after he'd learned what had happened, that she could stay as long as she needed to, but, the Doctor promised she’d pick her up in a few days but with the Doctor days could turn into weeks So, Anya had decided to use this time to reflect on the betrayal that had happened on Daniel Barton’s plane, the events that had changed everything, she knew around her. 

so curled up on the settee, in her pyjamas, listening out for her nephew and niece on babysitting duty, whilst the rain from the miserable early morning, pattered heavily on the roof, she did just that. 

O was not O. O had never existed. Or at least not the O she thought, O had been The Master, the Doctor’s best enemy as he’d put it and that broke her heart, she had been betrayed by one of- no, the person she trusted most in this world. and on top of that, something had happened- something strange. The Master's reveal of identity had triggered something, caused her to say a word she didn't understand or even knew that she knew. but the Master knew it. and the Doctor knew it too, that had been evident by their little chat back in the TARDIS.

she'd told her that she'd said The Master's name, well, nickname.

and she had no idea how she knew it or why she'd said it- or why even had her head felt like it had been stabbed with a thousand knives, as she said it. 

but, there was one thing she did know, and that was that O, or The Master- whatever he was now called, she never wanted to lay eyes on him ever again. 

* * *

The Master stood outside the Switzerland based house in the pouring rain knocking receptively on the door. He’d just exited his TARDIS and crossed the street, to her house but he was drenched. After the day (or however long it had been) he’d had, and the things he’d seen, he had realised that he was in need of some, well, uh, help and the only person he'd thought of that would be willing to help him with his little situation was, well one of the Doctor's little humans, her little pets. The door suddenly opened and stood on the other side was exactly the person he wanted to see.

Anya Sterling was stood in a pink and purple set of pyjamas, her long brown hair tied up in a slightly wonky ponytail, giving him the the most viscous glare he’d ever seen her give him. He stepped forwards, as if to approach her but she pushed him away slightly with her hand before crossing her arms, hardening the glare.

“Hello Anya” he smirked his signature smirk

“nope, you’re not coming in here” she tried to shut the door but the man stuck his foot out to stop it from closing, he wasn't going anywhere. 

“Why not?” 

“Because you tried to kill me and my friends in an exploding plane amongst other attempts, you betrayed my trust, the entire friendship we had was based on a lie, and it’s twelve thirty in the morning, which means my niece and nephew are currently upstairs asleep and my brother and his wife will be home from their friend's party any second now” 

“Serves the parents right for staying out so late” 

“Hey it’s not Andrew’s fault he never gets to spend time and with his wife! especally with the UNIT situation- honestly the governemt has made a mistake with shutting it down"

“Humans, make lesser mistakes than TimeLords” 

Anya looked shocked at his compliment, and he smirked at her naivety, she was so easy to manipulate. 

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” 

that took the Master off guard, maybe she wasn't so naive after all, and was actually concerned about him 

“Why would I be hurt?” 

_Stupid humans and their empathy radars_.

“You look it” 

“That’s a human response" he spat "I am not a ridiculous, little, puny, human” 

“I was trying to be nice but if you’re just going to turn up out of the blue after you tried to murder me and my friends and insult my species then I’m closing the door”

"no! please let me in!" 

okay, he hadn't intended to say please, because that was the nice way of doing things, but, this was Anya- his old friend and one time crush- wait no, not his old friend and crush, O's old friend and crush, why would he have a crush on a human? true, he had missed her a lot, during his journey, down the slow path for 77 years, and he'd also found himself thinking about her during his time in the Kassavin realm, more than he'd like to admit, but that didn't equal feelings towards her. he'd rather die than actually fall in love with a human. but because it was Anya, he couldn't exactly kill her just yet, that wouldn't be any fun, so he had to bide his time and play nicely, for a while anyway.

"nope, what do you want? if it's so urgent, why you can just tell me it here?"

The Master growled in frustration why was she so stubborn when she's upset? okay he had no choice but to do it here. he reached into his jacket, and pulled out a piece of old dirty cloth, with a drawing on it. 

"do you know what this is?

"a diamond?" 

"not any diamond, one of the most valuable diamond's in the universe"

"and why are you showing me this?"

"I'm not going to tell you that"

"I'm guessing, you can't just tell me about it out here can you?" Anya sighed and The Master smiled

"no. now are you going to let me in or not?"

* * *

Anya watched The Master intensely as he wandered into the living room and looked around the space that was littered with Jane's toys and Harry's PlayStation controller and games. 

"bit messy, I like it" he commented before sitting himself down on the settee in the exact spot Anya had been sitting in previously. She had no idea what had possessed her to let the man who had broken her heart and literally tried to kill her under the same roof that housed both her niece and nephew, but she supposed it was because she was curious to find out what The Master had planned for once, and that he hadn't killed her straight away. 

"why do you need me to find a diamond?" she asked getting immediately to the point. 

"this is not how things are going to work" he smirked knowing he had the upper hand in this situation, no matter what Anya believed "you're still one of the Doctor's pets, i need to know you're not going to go running and tell tales to her about this"

"and how am I supposed to prove that?" she asked 

"you're not" he said "but if you spill a single word to the Doctor about what our little-"

"our? I haven't agreed to help you, I'm waiting for you to tell me what you're planning and then I’ll decide to help you" 

The Master stood up, and in quick succession, sauntered over to her, as close as he possibly could without touching her and stared her down.

"again, not how things are going to go around here" He spoke menacingly “you are going to help me or, lets just say, you won’t be seeing the rest of your family or your precious Doctor for a long time”

Anya looked him directly in the eyes, trying her best to stand her ground whilst, trying to see if she could try to tell what he meant, but he wasn’t giving anything away, his eyes were hardened in the threat of whatever he was implying, but also had something else hidden behind them. was it pain? she didn’t want to pry but, it was nagging at her badly, why did he seem hurt? He mentioned an incident back in Australia when he was O, was that all fabrication? Or was that the cause of his pain? he was a mystery, an enigma, someone who desperately needed help, someone she didn’t want to aid but, if he was threatening that he’d do something to her or her family or the Doctor and her friends then what choice did she have? The eye contact was getting more uncomfortable by the second, and she really didn’t want to find out what would happen if she didn’t speak.

“okay, fine, I’ll help”

“there, I knew you’d see it my way” he smirked as he turned away from her, picking something off the coffee table so quickly that Anya honestly didn’t see what it was.

“doesn’t make it, our mission though, I’m not on your side” she pointed out

“oh you will be, in time, I control everything, so stick around and find out”

“you don’t hurt my family, if I help you, they stay out of your diabolical plan. My dad, my brother, my sister in law, nephew and niece stay unharmed”

“wasn’t planning on it sweetheart” he spoke nonchalantly, apparently more interested in whatever he had in his hand

“so are you going to tell me about this diamond? Why do you need to steal it to get some information?”

The Master looked up and scrunched up the map and threw it onto the ground behind him, like it was nothing. 

“the Halassi Androvar. We can steal it later, it's moved down on my list of priorities”

“wait? you have priorities? and what’s so important that you’ll brush off a heist to steal something?”

“this. This is important”

The Master grinned holding out the object he’d swiped off the table by its chain. Dangling there in front of her was a simple and quite frankly broken, fob watch. before his eyes went cold and uncaring once more. 

“now, Anya, here’s your new side of the deal, you’re going to get in my Tardis and tell me just how this came into the possession of a simple minded human” he spoke, the sudden coldness in his voice making her feel as if someone had just walked on her grave. 

"and in exchange, I won't kill your dear family"


End file.
